From Mettman, Christof Schotten, General Manager of ITW Dynatec, manages a globally active, decentralized specialist for adhesive application systems. The company with 350 members of staff is a division of the US American ITW group whose latest sales amounted to 14 billion dollars. In the interview, Schotten reports how the company used a crisis for detailed market analyses, cleared the rank growth in the product and industry portfolio and now posts two-digit growth rates in carefully selected markets.
Mr. Schotten, ITW Dynatec is, perhaps, not known to all readers. Can you give a short description of the history of your company?
Christof Schotten: With pleasure. The starting pistol was fired in 1992 with the merger of two American and a German manufacturer of adhesive application technology under the roof of ITW. At that time, our parent company recognised the growth potential of the adhesive market and made strategic investments in order to secure a leading role. Since then, other acquisitions of companies in France and Germany have supplemented the nucleus of Dynatec. Now we are successful in Europe, the US and Asia. Also and especially in China. The success there, however, only came when we took over a controlling role in a joint venture with a Chinese partner in 2011.
...You emphasise that...
Schotten: ...because we have learnt a lesson that will be interesting for other companies too. There was economic growth, but success did not come. The breakthrough was only achieved when we could implement our corporate strategy with our own management.
Adhesives are on the advance in many industrial segments. Where are your focal areas?
Schotten: We concentrate on four market segments. The largest segment is Disposable Hygiene Products – baby diapers, incontinence products and medical wound care. There we co-operate with major manufacturers of the hygiene products and the manufacturers of their machines who integrate our systems in their production lines. This segment accounts for nearly one third of our sales and grows most strongly. In Asia, due to the rising birth rates. In Europe, the US and Japan, due to the ageing society. The second segment, the Coating&Laminating segment, focuses on the production of self-adhesive film labels, packaging films and technical textiles – like, for instance, roof liners for cars. In 2011, we took over Inatec GmbH in order to strengthen our position in this segment. Inatec was strong as regards reel-to-reel processing technologies but very focused on the home market. Since our merger, we have been joining forces to press ahead with our global sales.
What about printing and packaging technology?
Schotten: It's part of our third segment – carton closing and tray bonding. As it is, packaging films and self-adhesive films also belong to this market. However, since these methods differ very strongly we see them as independent. Our fourth segment is called Product Assembly where we provide above all solutions for the automotive industry; for instance, bonding solutions for the assembly of car headlights. This industry makes high demands which are challenging to us and help us improve our technology.
Recently you thinned out your product portfolio. Why?
Schotten: We used the economic crisis of 2009 as a chance to analyse our markets in great detail. We had discussions with market researchers, customers and associations and then took, inter alia, the decision to abandon the cold glue segment although we were leading in a number of areas there. We continue to provide services but do not invest in R&D and marketing any longer.
How did you assess the printing and packaging markets in your analyses?
Schotten: In the packaging market, we are very active with our hot glue application technology and see excellent growth potential especially in Asia. On the other hand, the situation is difficult as far as printing is concerned. There consolidation is the dominating topic. In the Coating&Laminating segment, we were active for major printing machinery manufacturers; this has been decreasing significantly. But consolidation also offers potential for technical innovations. At present we cooperate with printing press manufacturers in R&D projects about which I cannot talk in detail. The bottom-line is, however, that we see hardly any growth potential for our systems in the printing market. Except for label printing where the innovativeness is high and the future perspectives are good.
Which innovations can you offer customers for label printing?
Schotten: We align our product portfolio strictly with sustainability criteria. This starts with food grade approved adhesives for food packaging the development of which we promote together with adhesive manufacturers, then goes on with energy and raw material efficiency. Worth mentioning is our patented UFD technology with which we reduce adhesive consumption by up to 50 percent depending on the application. Many a customer spends six-figure sums on adhesives per year. In many cases, the UFD applicator heads amortise within much less than twelve months.
Which technology is the backbone of this highly efficient process?
Schotten: The name stands for Uniform Fiber Deposition, i.e. the uniform deposition of strands of adhesives. The applicator heads deposit a reticulated pattern of razor-thin strands on the bond seam. The freely variable patterns produce many adhesion points. Their bonding strength is in no way inferior to a closed film produced with slot or roller applicators. We can meter the amount of adhesive with a precision of less than one gram combined with utmost edge and width accuracy. In contrast to traditional techniques, there is no excess adhesive. Where consumption decreases, a lower amount of adhesive must be heated to an operating temperature of 150 - 200 °C. In addition, only minimum amounts of compressed air are used. And last but not least, the UFD technology allows fast product changeovers since the application widths can be changed fast and flexibly.
That sounds impressive. Are there any other innovations from your company?
Schotten: Our Vector Surge Technology received awards both at the IDEA in Miami and the INDEX in Geneva. It can lay down adhesives in one path both in line and cross machine direction. This enables to deposit rectangles with a blank centre at a high speed. With another innovation – theTwinCoat – we have been nominated for an award at the LabelExpo in Chicago. This technology replaces approximately 80 percent of the expensive adhesive with inexpensive filler adhesive. In the application head, there are two chambers where both adhesives are extruded from. In multi-layered packaging films, TwinCoat can substitute at least one film layer by an adhesive. The focus is on applications in which expensive adhesive can be extruded together with the cheaper filler adhesive from one application head. Where otherwise 10 g need to be laid down on the full surface, now 2 – 3 g of the formulated adhesive are enough to ensure adhesion to the substrate.
Are there high-tech and low-tech applications in your business?
Schotten: The closing of cartons with adhesive points at speeds of 30 m per minute is less demanding than the bonding of diaper cuffs in lines that produce 1000 diapers per minute. Despite the air turbulences which occur at line speeds of 600 m, the fine plastic strands must be enclosed with the adhesive with high precision. This requires high-tech equipment. In order to stay on the ball in spite of consistently increasing production speeds, we need to make huge R&D efforts. These markets are, however, exactly those in which we can stand out from the competitors. Being backed by ITW is very helpful – seen from this angle, we as a "medium-sized company" get the necessary strength from the group to implement our ideas and to maintain our position in the market.
